Book review: Mahendra Prasad Singh, Federalism in India

Mahendra Prasad Singh, Federalism in India. Delhi: SAGE, 2022, 294 pp., ₹1,295.

which is gradually shifting from the State to the Centre. Many other developmental issues, similarly, have propelled the Centre to enact a common law for the nation. This cooperation between the Centre and States makes federalism in India dynamic despite diversities. There may be hiccups and slowdowns but there is resilience in the polity.
This book takes into account the dynamics of this resilience and the hiccups through a focused study of the roles of parties, elections, judicial judgments, civil society, the role of Governors, Election Commission, etc., in running a federal polity. It is a study of political-judicial-civil society institutions with a global perspective of the federal traditions broadly dividing it into '(a) the US-American presidential federal model; (b) the British Commonwealth parliamentary-federal model; and (c) the Continental European federations-a mixed bag of some parliamentary-federal systems and the presidential-federal systems with a strong component of direct democracy' (p. 17). The features of these models have been discussed in details while simultaneously situating them in the historical-economic backdrop of capitalism and democracy with a categorical statement that 'federalism is not likely to emerge and survive in pre-modern feudal settings' (p. 25).
He argues that Indian federalism is a Commonwealth parliamentary-federal model, which is premised on the Government of India Act, 1935, which, in turn, is modelled on the British North America Act, 1867; yet, it has some distinct unique features: the parliament has the power to reorganise the territorial boundaries of the States; the States have symmetrical federal features; the legislative, financial, administrative powers are dominantly in favour of the Centre. These features have led to the description of India being called 'quasi-federal'. It has equally been called 'cooperative-federal'. What is, however, pertinent here is to analyse two different perspectives, which look at Indian federalism: while the first, the 'quasi-federal', looks at India from the American constitutional model, the 'cooperative-federal model' interprets the Indian federal functioning, from its own experiment. The successful federal functioning of the Centre and States, irrespective of regime change, reflects the cooperative functioning of the two units. It is a requiem for rapid economic and democratic development in a plural society while simultaneously avoiding a breakup of the polity in process of transition. In a rigid federal framework, the Centre and States may not cooperate with each other to maintain the autonomy of their domains, which may lead to a slowdown in development. In India, such a possibility is less as the framework is flexible.
The book analyses the different facets of Centre-State relations in the changing political contexts of the republic. From the Congress dominance in politics, and State-led economy to the shift to the BJP dominance and market economy, the book provides graphic details of the history of this development. And interestingly, the irony of the historical trajectory is such that a fringe party till 1980, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, now Bharatiya Janata Party, has become the ruling party; and the State-led public sectors leading the market have retreated from business. Yet there is no change in the 'basic structure of the Constitution'. The only major change, which is visible, is the creation of new States, Union Territories and Tribal Councils. The centralising trait of the polity has facilitated the stability of the polity and rapid development of the economy despite the change of the parties in power. The other federal countries with more autonomy to States took decades in their growth trajectories. A more centralised polity in India overcame the setback of colonial drain out in a shorter duration to develop and integrate the diversities more deeply.
In recent years, the governments, both federal and provincial, have adopted more radical steps to forge one tax system for the entire country which reflects the spirit of cooperative federalism. It is called Goods and Services Tax (GST), which deals with the modalities of tax collection and distribution between the Centre and the States. It has functioned smoothly despite being a new system. Another area of cooperative federalism is the making of foreign policy in which, despite being a federal subject, the Centre consults border States, takes into account their local sensibilities in dealing with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, etc. Yet, 'in comparative federal discourse, India was first considered less than federal in strict sense of the term' (p. 125). It was argued that 'Union government (has overriding powers) over the State governments even in normal times in the sphere of Union-State division of powers' (p. 125). Today, most federal countries of the world are highly centralised in their everyday functioning in comparison to what they were at the time of their formation. It is equally applicable to India. Independent India arrived late at the history of modern capitalism and democracy. Therefore, it was more centralised. Contemporary federal India is more centralised than it was in 1950. There may not be much change in the constitutional provisions but the process of globalisation, democracy and capitalism have strengthened the centralising trends of the federal administration. In fact, the above referred three factors have forced the States to cede their wall of separation or autonomous domains to the Centre for efficiency of services to the citizens and for the sake of the global market. Political parties forming their governments at the Centre, and in different States, tend to follow the same trend of centralisation. Till 2021, there were twenty-three federal countries in the world that practice different degrees of federalism. In the Indian neighbourhood Pakistan, Nepal and Myanmar are federal countries; Nepal is the recent addition (2015).
Analysis of the emerging trends of the global economy, institutions and democratic praxis foretell us that the federal countries are moving towards a quasi-federal or cooperative federal framework in their administrative functioning while remaining politically and constitutionally federal. It is also noticeable that more countries are becoming federal as democratic praxis is deepening.
There are two serious shortcomings in the book: one, the author does not discuss the roles of the regional business chambers in the creation of federalism in colonial India, and their conflicts with the national chamber (FICCI) that reduced the powers of the provinces. These economic fundamentals of business determine the nature of federalism. In India, the major powers of business are with the Centre, therefore, it is quasi-federal. The political scientists in India, usually, do not discuss this aspect. The economists focus more on the fiscal side. This section, therefore, remains untouched. Further, and second, there is a complete lack of discussion on the nexus between the emerging business and the politics in the sub-regions of different States, which has led to the demand for the reorganisation of States or the creation of new States and Union Territories. It is visible in the hills and in the tribal regions. The discussion on the fiscal-taxation system of the new GST should not be confused with the study of the role of business chambers in prompting the creation of federalism in India. It was the Bengal National Chambers of Commerce and Industry or such chambers in different linguistic regions of India that had persuaded the Congress to accept federalism as the principle of governance in 1916. The emergence of such new chambers in the new sub-regions has prompted the existing governments to concede to the demands of the creation of new states, Tribal Councils and Union Territories. The two major omissions, notwithstanding, the book is useful to readers who are interested in the history of constitutional federalism in India. This book is compiled as 'A tribute to Late Prof. L. N. Sharma', a former Head of the Department of Political Science, Patna University, with some known writings on the PMs of India by his able research student Dr Sharma. It comprises twenty chapters. Five of the chapters are authored by Prof. Sharma himself, one by James Manor, one by this reviewer and the rest by other Indian scholars. The editor has briefly introduced the structure and arguments of the book in the Preface.

Himanshu Roy
James Manor in the opening chapter significantly remarks: May 2014, India witnessed the emergence of a leader/Prime Minister, who had hitherto been largely confined to state politics. There is not much precedence of this sort in Indian political history where a leader with state-demeanour had risen to the zenith of political leadership…ultimately becoming the prime minister. This journey was not easy, particularly for a man who [had] always remained at the hot spot both from within and outside the party he belonged to, the BJP. Interestingly though, if at all he was nationally and internationally known, outside his party and country, it was more for the so-called blemishes and bemoans, than anything else. Narendra Modi's rise to the prime ministership, thus, presents an interesting set of paradoxes, burdening students of Indian politics to discern and demystify some of them. (pp. [1][2] In the next two chapters, L. N. Sharma formulates an 'Analytical/Institutional Approach' to the study of prime ministers (PMs) of India and the leadership style of the first PM Jawaharlal Nehru. A glimpse of this approach may be gleaned from the different phases of the Indian PMship outlined as follows: